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“Bush Go Home” vs “Allah Akbar”

This just in: Many people in Austria don’t like George W. Bush!

George Bush was visiting Austria yesterday so there were a few demonstrations against his presence here. I went to the biggest one in the afternoon both as a photographer as well as to state my opinion that the Republic of Austria should not spend sizeable amounts of taxpayer money to entertain a war-monger and cause inconveniences for many of its citizens.

The thing with demonstrations, though, is that they are attended by lots of people who don’t share your own particular political and moral view of the world – in my case they usually tend to be a bit more extreme. It also seems to me to be that the more extreme people are the louder they tend to shout.

I’d rather not be associated, for example, with somebody who screams “Allah Akbar!” into a megaphone, nor with someone who’d like to get George Bush shot. I also don’t share the view (greeted with applause by the crowd) of one of the speakers that George Bush is the biggest human rights violator since the Second World War. Atrocious as his record is, even for a president of the United States, it seems almost petty compared to some otherguys. This view, however, would not have resonated well with a large portion of the crowd, namely the communists. I’ll take a capitalist democracy over a communist dictatorship every time of day, thank you very much!

Nonetheless, it was a very peaceful demonstration and overall a mostly positive experience. See more photos from the demo in this Flickr group!

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5 thoughts on ““Bush Go Home” vs “Allah Akbar””

Also wanted to go, but was overcome by fear of retribution. In all current political systems, small people live best avoiding the presence of those holding the power (police, military, government, sects=cults=religious_groups, you name it).

Killing Dubya is an extremly bad idea. Firstly, I believe in human rights (even if he does not), so he has a right to live. Secondly, Dick would immediately replace him and start more stupid wars. Thirdly, he’s a perfect bad example of acephalous long-time drug abusers. Last, he’s fun — dumber than old retard Raygun (which is an achievement by itself).

Neither Stalin nor Mao were Communists. They were dictators who called themselves Communist to justify what they are doing (to other self-styled Communists). Anyone who says otherwise needs to take a course in the Sociology of Political Ideology, and even in Political History. He who controls the meaning of a word, controls the thoughts surrounding that word. Very pertinent stuff in a world filled with propaganda. That said, Stalin and Mao were terrible and killed a lot of people directly. George Bush is killing far more people indirectly, and most importantly doing so by preparing for a war with Asia over resources. In Washington “Terrorist” means “people who don’t give the USA resources.”

Many people in the US don’t like George Bush either. The Iraqi war has really hurt his standing with the American public. I too do photography. Have done many demonstrations and have been in the middle of demonstrators vs. police. I always try to make a friend of at least one police officer and hover around just in case it gets ugly. Once or twice this tactic has saved my but.